Toy utility truck



' June 22, 1954 J. G. GOKEY 2,681,739

TOY UTILITY TRUCK Filed April 17. 1950 4? I 34 o 11 42 46 3 I g m G Gokey Patented June 22, 1954 TOY UTILITY TRUCK Joseph G. Gokey, Freeport. Ill., Structo Manufacturing Company,

a corporation of Illinois A plication April 17, 1950, Serial N0. 156,364

5 Glaims.

This invention relates to a new and: improved mechanical toy-more particularly a toy utility or dump truck.

The principal object is to provide a toy truck of the kind mentioned closely resembling the large dump trucks used in cities for garbage disposal equipment, except for example, that, in this toy the travelling dump bucket is raised and lowered by the child turning a crank, whereas in the full sized truck a hydraulic lift is employed, and so forth.

The travelling dump bucket is worked by a pair of arms pivoted on the opposite sides of the body and working through slots provided in the side walls and having concentric segmental gears provided on their pivoted ends inside the body meshing with pinicns fixed on a cross-shaft mounted in the body and adapted to be turned by means of a crank operated second cross-shaft drivingly connected by pinions to the first shaft, this combination and arrangement of elements having the advantage that there are no places where a child is in danger of pinching or cutting fingers, all of the gears being concealed even though the swingable arms are necessarily exposed. The body preferably has elongated ribs embossed on the side walls thereof along which the arms can slide and be thereby guided out of marring contact with the finish on the body.

The swingable arms, in accordance with my invention are also arranged to have sliding engagement with projections provided on the sides of the free end portion of the hinged top loading door so as to swing it upwardly out of the way automatically as the travelling bucket is about to arrive adjacent the top opening for dumping, the body also having a trip projection on it next to the opening arranged to engage a lug provided on the inner side of the bucket soas to tip the bucket and dump the contents in proper timed relationship to the travel of the bucket and the opening of the top door.

The invention is illustrated in the accompan ing drawing, in which-- 7 Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a toy utility truck i made in accordance with my invention, showing }the bucket raised and the body in dumping position;

i Fig. 2 is a central longitudinal vertical section "through the dump body portion of the truck, on a larger scale, and l Fig. 3 is a sectional detail on line 3-3 of Fig. 2. The same reference numerals are applied to assignor to Freeport, Ill.-,

2 meral 4 designates the sheet metal frame or chassis of the toy truck on opposite ends of which pairs of wheels 5 and 6 are mounted for rolling support of the toy so that it may be played with as a pull toy when the child is not using it otherwise; The sheet metal box-like dump body 'I has a bottom wall 8' in which slots 9 are: provided slidably receiving lugs I0 provided on the upper ends of upwardly extending brackets II provided on the rear end of the frame 4, for hingedly supporting the body I on the frame to pivot on an axis in eccentric relation to the rear axle 24. Corner portions :2 of the lugs [0 are bent or twisted out of the plane of the lugs so as to retain the body against displacement from these lugs without interfering with the hinging action. Shoulders I3 on the lugs limit the rearward swinging movement of the body 7. An upwardly bent lug I4 is provided on the frame 4 behind the drivers cab I5 to limit the return movement of the body l by abutment with the bottom wall 8. A rear dump or tail door I 6 is hinged to the body 1, as by rivets I 'I entered through flanges I3 provided on the sides of the door, and serves as a closure for a dump opening I9 provided in the rear of the body. A slot 20 is provided in the free end 2i of the door at the middle and receives the hooked free end 2! of an elongated leaf spring 22 which is anchored by its looped inner end 23 on the rear axle 24 of the truck and attached to the rear end of the frame by engagement of a hooked end 25 of the looped portion 23 and also bears intermediate its ends, as at 25, on the rear end of the frame for support, the spring 22 being flexed for attachment to the door 16, and, prior to such attachment, in its unflexed condition, extending and being shaped approximately as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2. The spring 22 is therefore loaded when connected with the door I 6, and serves the threefold purpose of (a) closing the door I6 automatically as the body I is swung down to the normal or loading position of Fig. 2; (1)) opening the door automatically as the body 1 swings to the dumping position shown in Fig. 1, and (c) supplying the pull or spring tension necessary to swing the body I from its loading position to its dumping position, the pull of the spring 22 being, of course, transmitted through the door I6 to the body 1, as should be clear from inspection of Fig. 2. The stop I3 limits movement of the body I in the dumping direction,

I but spring 22 is then still under ample tension to hold the body in the dumping position and keep the hooked end 2I connected with the door I6. A leaf spring catch 21 is suitably anchored at its lower end 28 to the front end of the body I and has a shoulder 29 intermediate its end which is arranged to enter an opening 30 in the vertical back wall 3i of the cab 15 to lock the body I releasably in the lowered or loading position. The curved free end portion 32 of the catch projects sufficiently above the top of the cab to serve as a handle for release of the catch. "It' is in the return of the body '5 to the loading position that the stop It comes into abutment with the bottom wall 6 of the body, and that occurs after the shoulder 29 of the catch 2'} snaps into the open ing as to lock the body in this normal position.

The body I has its rear portion of arcuate form, as indicated at $6, struck with the pivotal axis 22- 52 of arms 35 as an axis, so that bucket 33 carried on arms to can move relative to the arcuate portion as of the body in an are from the lowered loading position shown in Fig. 2 to the raised dumping position shown in Fig. l. The travelling dump bucket 33 extends substantially the full Width of the body I and is pivotally supported at its opposite ends, as indicated at 34, on the right angled end portions 35 of the pair of arms 36 that are pivotally mounted on the opposite sides of the body 7. These arms 35 have their pivoted end portions working through slots 3! provided in the offsets 38 defined between the side walls as of the body proper and the integral lower apron portions so that extend downwardly on opposite sides of the frame t to improve the appearance of the toy and also form protective shields for the gear segments 5! provided on the pivoted end portions of the arms These gear segments are concentric with the rivets 52 that form the pivots and fasten the arms to the side Walls of the'body. Ribs 43 are embossed outwardly on opposite sides of the body '5 from the sheet metal side walls 39 along which the arms 35 may slide as guides to prevent rubbing contact with the finish on the rest of the side walls and thereby insure keeping the toy looking nice much longer. Other ribs 45 at a higher elevation are provided for a similar reason, these being in alignment with the upper ends of arms 35 in their raised position so as to avoid having the finish on the side walls of the body rubbed off in that vicinity when the bucket 33 is being dumped, as in Fig. 1. Pinions (i5 mesh with segments ii and are fixed on the opposite ends of a cross-shaft it that is mounted in bearing holes provided in the side walls of the body '3. Another cross-shait ii, having an integral crank extension 58 on one end, is also received in bearing holes like shaft 6 and has pinions ii; fixed on opposite ends thereo. and meshed with pinions In that way clockwise rotation of the crank causes the clockwise movement of arms 36 required in moving the bucket 33 tothe raised dumping position, and vice versa. There is, in other words, no confusion in operating the toy, because the crank is always turned in the direction of the desired motion of the arms. The gear ratio is such that a small child can easily 'operatethe bucket, even when fully loaded with sand or dirt.

A door 58 is hinged to the top of body i, similarly as door It, namelyby rivets 5i entered through flanges 52 provided on the opposite sides of the door. This door gravitates to a closed position closing top opening 53 through which the body '5 is adapted to be loaded by dumping from bucket 53. There are laterally bent ears 55 on the free ends of flanges 52 and these are arranged to be slidably engaged by the arms 36 4 when the latter are swung upwardly whereby to swing the door 50 upwardly out of the way automatically as the bucket 33 is about to arrive adjacent the top opening 53 for dumping. The door, of course, drops back later to closed position by gravity upon return of the bucket to the normal loading position shown in Fig. 2. A lug 55 suitably secured to the top wall of the body I in front of opening 53 is arranged in the path of and serves as a trip projection for engagement with a lug 56 provided on the inner side of bucket 33, whereby to tip the bucket and dump the contents thereof in proper timed relationship to the travel of the bucket and the opening of the top door.

It is believed the foregoing description conveys a good understanding of the objects and advantages of my invention. The appended claims have been drawn to cover all legitimate modifications and adaptations.

I claim:

1. In a toy vehicle of the character described, a body having side, top, and front and rear walls, one end portion of said body being of arcuate form with the center of the are on a horizontal axis in the middle lower portion of the body, elongated arms pivoted at their one end on opposite sides of said body approximately on said axis, and carrying on their outer free ends a bucket extending substantially the Width of the body, said body having an opening provided in the top wall, a door hinged at its one edge portion to the top of said body arranged to gravitate to closed position over said opening, means on the other edge portion of said door arranged to be engaged by at least one of said arms so as to raise the door to open position when the bucket is moved by said arms to dumping position over said opening, the lower portion of at least one of said arms being operable on the inner side of the side wall of said body, said body having a slot provided in the side wall through which the arm extends for operation, a gear segment on the pivoted end of said arm inside said body and concentric with the pivotal axis oi said arms, and a crank operable pinion inside said body meshing with said segment, the crank being operable on the outer side of said body.

2. In a toy vehicle of the character described, a body having side, top, and front and rear walls, one end portion of said body being of arcuate form with the center of the are on a horizontal axis in the middle lower portion of the body, elongated arms pivoted at their one end on opposite sides of said body approximately on said axis, and carrying on their outer free ends a bucket extending substantially the width of the body, said body having an opening provided in the top wall, a door hinged at its one edge portion to the top of said body arranged to gravitate to closed position over said opening, means on the other edge portion of said door arranged to be engaged by at least one of said arms so as to raise the door to open position when the bucket is moved by said arms to dumping position over said opening, the lower portion of said arms being operable on the inner side of the side walls of said body, said body having slots provided in the side walls through which the arms extend for operation, gear segments on the pivoted ends of said 7 ments, and a crank operable from outside said body for turning said shaft.

3. In a toy vehicle of the character described, a body having side, top, and front and rear walls, one end portion of said body being of arcuate form with the center of the are on a horizontal axis in the middle lower portion of the body, elongated arms pivoted at their one end on opposite sides of said body approximately on said axis, and carrying on their outer free ends a bucket extending substantially the width of the body, said body having an opening provided in the top Wall, a door hinged at its one edge portion to the top of said body arranged to gravitate to closed position over said opening, means on the other edge portion of said door arranged to be engaged by at least one of said arms so as to raise the door to open position when the bucket is moved by said arms to dumping position over said opening, the lower portion of said arms being operable on the inner side of the side walls of said body, said body having slots provided in the side walls through which the arms extend for operation, gear segments on the pivoted ends of said arms inside said body and concentric with the pivotal axis of said arms, a cross-shaft mounted in said body having pinions fixed on the ends thereof inside said body meshing with said segments, a second cross-shaft mounted in said body parallel to the first shaft and having pinions fixed on the ends thereof inside the body meshing with the first pinions, and a crank for turning the latter shaft operable outside said body.

4. A toy vehicle as set forth in claim 1, wherein said body has an outwardly projecting elongated rib provided on the slotted side wall in upwardly spaced relation to the slot slidably engaged by said arm working in said slot to keep the arm in outwardly spaced relation to the side wall in the to and fro swinging movement of the arm.

5. A toy vehicle as set forth in claim 2, wherein said body has outwardly projecting elongated ribs provided on the side walls thereof in upwardly spaced relation to the slots slidably engaged by said arms to space the latter outwardly relative to said side walls in the to and fro swinging movement of said arms.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,563,830 Brown Dec. 1, 1925 1,586,571 Mielka June 1, 1926 1,595,510 Fischer Aug. 10, 1926 1,652,136 Arden Dec. 6, 1927 1,728,519 Tuerck Sept. 17, 1929 1,865,318 Howard June 28, 1932 1,972,376 Decker Sept. 4, 1934 2,087,348 Leach 1 July 20, 1937 2,170,932 Venema Aug. 29, 1939 2,201,148 Berger May 21, 1940 2,380,917 Boone Aug. 7, 1945 2,406,015 Heil et al Aug. 20, 1946 2,557,851 Warner June 19, 1951 2,589,333 Brown Mar. 18, 1952 

